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User blog:Rabbitty/Bane's mother
What is the deal with Bane's mother? I think she's one of the biggest mysteries currently standing—and a particularly intriguing one at that. She's only mentioned 4 times throughout the series. The first time is when Bane tells Jame his backstory in , and the second when Anar mentions her in . The other two times are Jame mentioning her, and Jame really doesn't know anything about her. First, let's look at the story Bane tells Jame: }} Who told Bane this story in the first place? His mother? Ishtier? Whoever it was lied to him about Ganth dying in the mountains. This was probably to cover up the fact that they deserted their lord while he still lived. Also—if you take this story as true—then Ganth couldn't have been Bane's father, as he died in the mountains a year before Bane was conceived. And now let's look at what Anar says: Trinity, but Master's House was close. Only once before had it been closer. The garrison had been some three years into its exile then, long enough to see that it would only end in death. The sooner the better, they had thought, and so again followed their lord headlong into hopeless battle, this time against primordial darkness itself. Death, at last, with honor… Anar shuddered, remembering the slow churn of mist under that cliff of shadow that had confounded and dragged them apart. Only he and two score others had stumbled out. Some, gaunt with hunger, mad with thirst, said that they had been trapped for days, for weeks, in that murky limbo. Some only stared with hollow eyes, mouthing the same words over and over again: " 'm hungry, 'm hungry…" That had been the garrison's first experience with the haunts that gave this accursed land its name. It was also when they discovered that their priest, Ishtier, had run off, taking his lord's Kendar mistress and his own priestly powers with him, just when they had most needed a pyric rune to deal with their own walking dead. Of them all, only the Gray Lord had penetrated the shadows and come at last to the Master's Hall, or so Anar guessed. Where else could he have found that beautiful, nameless lady whom he had brought out with him to grace his bed and bear these children, brother and sister, with so much of her strange magic in the silver shadow of their eyes? |Narrator = Anar |Source = }} These two stories have an odd time mismatch. See the discussion of Bane's birth for the whole thing, but the short version is Bane's story would put his birth in 2995, while Anar's puts his birth in 2997. This is likely just an error— was written 35 years ago, and has a few oddities in it, like the name Talissen and "Kencyrs" being used as the plural of Kencyr. It's probably just that the timeline hadn't been hammered out yet when that was written. Or maybe Bane screwed up telling the story. But if it's not, it means that someone lied about 2 years worth of time for reasons that aren't clear. Overview Let's start with what know about Bane's mother. She was a Knorth Kendar. Considering she was the right age to be Ganth's mistress, she was probably born during Gerraint's reign. After the White Hills, which she likely fought in, she became one of the Knorth Exiles. The Exiles crossed over the Ebonbane, and passed Tai-tastigon, setting in the old keep of North Kenshold. It was probably sometime during this time that she became Ganth's mistress. Three years into their exile, Ganth lead his people in a crazy raid against the Perimal Darkling. Just after that, she and Ishtier ran away to Tai-tastigon. She was newly pregnant at this time. In Tai-tastigon, she married Abbotir, Lord of the Gold Court of the Thieves' Guild. She gave birth to her son Bane, and no one knew he wasn't Abbotir's. Ganth's mistress The mistress part The word "mistress" is consistently used to describe her, in every one of her 4 mentions. Bane, Jame, and Anar all use this word. This is rather odd. We know several examples of relationships between Highborn men and Kendar women, and none of them are call mistresses. The term mistress implies some sort of ongoing relationship. Kendar women taken by Highborn men as lovers are in a pretty bad position. They're usually treated and referred to very dismissively — for example, Shade's mother and Vant's grandmother, and the Randir Tempter. }} We don't hear of any other Kendar women referred to as mistresses. Does this imply that Bane's mother had a higher position, or at least a more stable one? We don't know enough to say for sure, but it seems like she might've. The Ganth part We know Ganth once liked Trishien, and that they might've been consorts… but then Ganth saw the Dreamweaver and Trishien couldn't hold a candle to her. }} For Ganth, it was the Dream-weaver—her or no one. So how does Bane's mother fit into this? Leaving the High Keep In the beginning of , Anar talks about that one time Ganth lead his people on a crazy raid against the Darkling, and how it was right after that that they realized Ishtier and Bane's mother had ran away. This lines up with what Ishtier says in : }} So during the raid, Ishtier sees the power of the Perimal Darkling, and he is convinced to turn his back on his god and lord. He was like, "Screw this, screw Ganth, I'm going to Tai-tastigon." But why did Bane's mother go with him? She was one of the Exiles. She had followed Ganth to the White Hills, into exile, over the Ebonbane, all the way to the Haunted Lands, and then stayed there for three years. And then she decided to desert him. Why? What was the inciting incident that made her leave? Maybe it was the horror of that raid on the Darkling—the way Anar tells it, it seems fair to say it was awful beyond words. But another possible reason come to mind: Did she know she was pregnant? The High Keep was no place for a child. Bane's mother would had seen what had happened to Tob, sick and weakly after being born in the Haunted Lands. We already know that Knorth Kendar women are badass mama bears, and that Ganth's fall forced several them to make some very hard decisions to protect their unborn babies. Winter, who killed her own mate in battle for the sake of her unborn child. Corvine, who stayed behind in the Riverland and became a Randir, for the sake of her unborn child. Corvine's story in particular parallels this one very closely: A Knorth Kendar woman breaking with her lord in order to protect her unborn child. So we know this is exactly the kind of thing that could drive a Kencyr to make a decision like that. It's Honor's Paradox: Does your duty lie to your lord, or to your child? Also reason that may have played a part in pushing Bane's mother to leave is that she may have known she was about to lose her position as Ganth's mistress. It was during this raid on the Darkness that Ganth found the Dream-weaver and took her as his consort. Torisen says Ganth, "seemed drawn to her across the Ebonbane, into the Haunted Lands," so it's not hard to imagine that she was the reason for this raid in the first place. Bane's mother—assuming she was Ganth's semi-permanent mistress—was about to be replaced and cast off. Think of what the Randir Tempter told Jame: "They take us and use us and cast off our children as the whim takes them." This is exactly the situation that was shaping up. Not only would she be cast off, but so would Bane. Being a lord's bastard sucks to be begin with, but being being the bastard child of a lord who has just tossed aside your mother must be even worse. So it's easy for me to believe that may have been another contributing factor in her decision to leave. Ishtier }}Then there's Ishtier. How does he fit into all this? Which one of them first had the idea to leave? Did either one talk the other into it? Did either pick the other one to accompany them, or were they just the only two who were willing to go? Jame thinks Bane thinks Ishtier is his father. That Ishtier brought his mother down out of the Haunted Lands is enough reason alone for Bane to suspect that. But I do wonder: As the only two Kencyr in the city for many years, and with their shared past—did they ever see each other after they got to Tai-tastigon? Did Bane's mother ever go see Ishtier at the temple? Did she bring Bane? Was there anything about their relationship that might've feed the idea Ishtier was Bane's father? And I need to at least put it out there: Are were sure Ishtier isn't Bane's father? Jame is convinced Bane is Ganth's son, but that's based totally off her gut reaction. She has no real evidence of this. Bane has the silvery Knorth eyes… but consider this: Ishtier is also a pure-blooded Knorth Highborn. He was probably Ganth's cousin or something. Bane could've gotten his Knorth eyes and Shanir traits from Ishtier. I don't think this is likely—I think that would thematically undercut a lot of Bane's parts of the story. I think Bane probably is Ganth's son. But I thought the possibility he's not was still worth pointing out. Abbotir and the Thieves' Guild In Tai-tastigon, Bane's mother married Abbotir—Lord of the Gold Court of the Thieves' Guild. With all the questions of Kencyr honor regarding Jame becoming a thief, I'm sure there were some involved with a Kencyr marrying a thief as well. Perhaps she thought marrying a thief was dishonorable and she did it anyways. She had just broken with her lord—a very dishonorable act—to protect her and her unborn baby. This too would protect them, and she was almost certainly very desperate at this point. Or perhaps—like with Jame—Ishtier ok'ed it? He might've done that so she would be protected. They were more or less refugees when they arrived in Tai-tastigon, and being the wife of someone high in the city's most powerful guild was probably the best protection they could hope for. Bane was born, and no one ever never knew nor guessed that Bane wasn't Abbotir's son. Bane How much did she tell her son? The story that Bane tells Jame—who told it to him? His mother? Ishtier? Bane tells Jame about his moral conundrum when Abbotir told him he was to become a thief; how he thought it was dishonorable and only did it because Ishtier ordered him to. Where was Bane's mother in all of this? What did she think of her Kencyr son becoming a thief? If she was ok with it—if she had become ok with the thief thing though Abbotir—why didn't she talk to Bane, help him through it, so he didn't have to give his soul to Ishtier? And if she wasn't ok with it... was him giving his soul to Ishtier her idea? In fleeing together, had she come to trust Ishtier? Did she possibly think that Bane's soul might actually be safe with him? What did she think about her son's un-Kencyr-like behavior? How much did she teach him about the Kencyrath? How much did she want to put all that behind her? She had broken her oath to her lord, and it's unlikely that she would have been welcomed back into the Kencyrath if she ever wanted to rejoin her people. And her son was the bastard of a hated lord—the Kencyrath wouldn't embrace him either. And going with the other story—that he was Abbotir's son—would mean he was was only half-Kencyr, like Graykin... and the son of a thief to boot. Bane wouldn't have been accepted with that story either. So I don't think taught Bane everything about their people. But I do think she taught him some, since Bane tells us how for years he tried to follow Kencyr honor. If he had a sense of Kencyr honor, she couldn't have cut him off from her heritage completely. }} And then what? Where is Bane's mother now? Is she still alive? As a Kencyr, I don't think she just got sick and died. If she died at all—'especially' if she died violently, which with her being Kencyr seems like the only way—I think Bane would have mentioned it when he told Jame his story. In Tai-tastigon, Jame never sought Bane's mother out—''her'', one of the very few other Kencyr in the city, her, who could tell her more about both Bane and Ishtier, her, another Kencyr associated with the Thieves Guild—and that just seems really weird. References }} Category:Blog posts